The status of director Rupert Sanders’ reboot of The Crow recently went from unknown to a hot topic on the 2024 movie schedule. Starring John Wick: Chapter 4 alum Bill Skarsgård, this new take on one of the best ‘90s movies has been teasing audiences with some brief glimpses into the world of this mysterious reboot. And now, we have our first trailer, which shows Mr. Skarsgård's variant of Eric Draven as a full blown action hero.
As Lionsgate moved its John Wick spinoff Ballerina into 2025, there was a gap to be filled on this year’s calendar. Thanks to the studio’s first look at the footage to this June 2024 title, there's definitely a more modern sensibility to this version of author/artist James O’Barr’s creation. Especially as we see Bill Skarsgård's Eric take some shotgun blasts to the chest, only to rise up and fight back.
Make no mistake though, the same basic story of The Crow is in play. Eric and his fiancée Shelly (FKA Twigs) are still brutally murdered, with our hero coming back from the dead to settle the score. Cue the face paint, don the trench coat, and bring on the vengeance.
At the same time, one of the potential changes the trailer seems to vaguely imply is that Eric is not just avenging the murder of himself and his dead fiancé, but he may also be putting both of their souls to rest in the process. So there may be more of a supernatural bent to this remake, which happens to also be arriving in the year where fans are celebrating 30 years of the original film.
No matter where you land on The Crow’s first trailer, this fresh footage is going to absolutely spark up more fan comparisons between Bill Skarsgård and Brandon Lee. Judging by how the former Pennywise’s variant moves and acts when compared to Lee’s OG variant from 1994, this is more of an action spectacle than Alex Proyas' gothic crime thriller ever was.
Though you wouldn't know that from the official poster, which dropped with The Crow's newly born footage. Take a look for yourself, as it's included below for reference:
The Crow has the potential to be one of those reboots where more fans might have accepted it more if it had a different name. It certainly looks stylish and energetic, so it'll be interesting to see what other sorts of changes have been built in by writers Zach Baylin and William Schneider. While we’ve still got a couple months before this new version co-starring Danny Huston and Foundation’s Laura Birn hits theaters, you can bet there will be a lot of talk about what’s to come.
That's especially true when considering the project’s overall development history. Over time, we've learned The Crow reboot has undergone some massive changes. With actors ranging from Jason Momoa to Luke Evans all previously attached to the Eric Draven role, the various setbacks and eventual shelving of various iterations made it look like The Crow would never fly again.
Much like its own titular hero, this project has kept itself alive out of sheer will. And now, after a little over 15 years of development, all anyone who’s interested has to do is wait until this summer to see the results. As The Crow flies, you should expect this movie to land in theaters on June 7th.
